The Hoover Institution Library & Archives has acquired the archives of Tōgō Heihachirō, who was an admiral of the Imperial Japanese Navy and the commander in chief of the Combined Fleet during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–5. This acquisition, which comprises mostly of photographs, complements Hoover’s rich collection related to this war as well as the online exhibition Fanning the Flames: Propaganda in Modern Japan. Tōgō was educated in Britain for seven years, including training on the HMS Worcester of the Thames Nautical Training College. In 1905, the Combined Fleet of the Japanese Imperial Navy, led by Tōgō, attacked the Imperial Russian Navy’s Baltic Fleet, under the command of Zinovy Rozhestvensky, in Tsushima, leading to Japanese victory for the war. Tōgō was widely acclaimed in Japan for his contribution to his nation’s gaining recognition as a rising naval nation in Asia. His awe-inspiring achievements also gave the Japanese community in the United States a moral boost, and they gave him an enthusiastic welcome during a US visit in 1911. Photographs seen here were taken by a Japanese American–owned studio in Seattle, Washington, during Tōgō’s official 1911 visit to the United States, promoting US-Japan relations.
